American Farmland Trust

Margaret McGrath Rockefeller,80, a prominent conservationist and wife of philanthropist David Rockefeller, died Tuesday in New York after complications from heart surgery.In 1970, she founded the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which has since conserved more than 66,000 acres in the state. She also was a founding member of the American Farmland Trust and was a trustee of the New York Philharmonic.Carl Edward Stegmaier Jr.,75, whose lifetime study of insects won him worldwide professional acclaim, died Monday of cancer in Tallahassee, Fla. As an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he published 38 papers on fruit flies, weevils and mites, and on the eradication of ragweed throughout Russia.

Although by all accounts the Maryland legislature had a very productive session, legislators fell short in protecting the land that most sustains us - our farmland. While we applaud the successful defense of open space funding overall, for the second year in a row, both the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Fund and the Rural Legacy Program were slashed. This year they lost a combined $8.7 million. The trend and timing of these cuts is alarming. In addition to providing a host of benefits, starting with our food, farmland is central to meeting the Chesapeake Bay restoration goals to which Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay states and the District of Columbia have committed.

Harford Land Trust announced last week the conservation of 75 acres in the northwest end of the county and released results of a study on growth it commissioned that show the county is losing money on residential growth. Ann Helton, vice president of the board of the land trust, said Friday that the group commissioned the study by the American Farmland Trust "to gain a better understanding of all the land uses in Harford County." She described the study as a "real-time snapshot" of the county's revenues and expenditures, adding that she hopes the results will be used by county leaders in making policy decisions.

`Green payments' for our farmers would help bay Reporter Tom Pelton's article on the excessive nutrients plaguing the Chesapeake Bay ("Environmental group proposes tax on meat, dairy to aid in bay cleanup," July 29) raises important questions about who should pay for cleaning up farm runoff to our coastal waterways. And while a tax on food may not be politically feasible, one promising approach is rewarding farmers for good environmental stewardship. Both farmers and the public support incentives for farmers to keep the environment clean.

WASHINGTON -- In a major coup for Chesapeake Bay conservation efforts, DuPont Co. announced yesterday that it has forever spared from development its 3,300-acre Chesapeake Farms in Kent County.By donating its rights to develop the sprawling waterfront property to two national conservation groups, the company agreed to the single largest conservation easement ever granted in Maryland.The estate, which is on Route 20 about 10 miles southwest of Chestertown, has long been considered an environmental jewel.

Although by all accounts the Maryland legislature had a very productive session, legislators fell short in protecting the land that most sustains us - our farmland. While we applaud the successful defense of open space funding overall, for the second year in a row, both the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Fund and the Rural Legacy Program were slashed. This year they lost a combined $8.7 million. The trend and timing of these cuts is alarming. In addition to providing a host of benefits, starting with our food, farmland is central to meeting the Chesapeake Bay restoration goals to which Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay states and the District of Columbia have committed.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Long criticized for failing to slow down suburban sprawl, Pennsylvania now has something to brag about: national recognition of its farmland-preservation program. The state received an achievement award last week from American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit farmland-conservation group, for protecting more farmland than any other state. Since its creation in 1989, Pennsylvania's publicly funded Farmland Preservation Program has protected more than 1,400 farms and 180,000 acres of farmland from development.

County efforts to preserve farmland could be jeopardized if the state slashes the budget as officials have proposed."It's distressingnews," said Ralph L. Robertson Jr., chairman of the county Agriculture Preservation Advisory Board. "It really could hurt the program."State budget officials have proposed transferring $17 million from the farmland preservation budget to the state's general fund to help reduce the $423 million budget deficit. The transfer would leave only about $5 million in the farmland budget.

FRESNO, CALIF. -- It has to be one of the most remarkable grass-roots alliances the nation has ever seen -- builders and environmentalists, farm and business interests -- forces historically at odds -- suddenly agreeing that sprawl needs to be corralled.The coalition has taken shape in Fresno, America's No. 1 farm county ($3.3 billion in yearly farm sales). It's called the Growth Alternatives Alliance; its recent report is called "A Landscape of Choice."The message: Unplanned expansion is a deadly threat to the world's most productive agricultural region.

With thousands of flies swarming around their Bachmans Valley homes last summer, neighbors of two egg farms could have aired their complaints promptly if Carroll County had had a "right-to-farm" law, supporters of the proposed law said.Instead of searching for someone to listen to their complaints, residents could have gone directly to a county committee that would have heard both sides of the issue and proposed a solution.There is no guarantee that residents would have been satisfied with the committee's recommendation, especially because right-to-farm laws are designed to protect farmers against complaints about their operations.

Harford Land Trust announced last week the conservation of 75 acres in the northwest end of the county and released results of a study on growth it commissioned that show the county is losing money on residential growth. Ann Helton, vice president of the board of the land trust, said Friday that the group commissioned the study by the American Farmland Trust "to gain a better understanding of all the land uses in Harford County." She described the study as a "real-time snapshot" of the county's revenues and expenditures, adding that she hopes the results will be used by county leaders in making policy decisions.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Long criticized for failing to slow down suburban sprawl, Pennsylvania now has something to brag about: national recognition of its farmland-preservation program. The state received an achievement award last week from American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit farmland-conservation group, for protecting more farmland than any other state. Since its creation in 1989, Pennsylvania's publicly funded Farmland Preservation Program has protected more than 1,400 farms and 180,000 acres of farmland from development.

FRESNO, CALIF. -- It has to be one of the most remarkable grass-roots alliances the nation has ever seen -- builders and environmentalists, farm and business interests -- forces historically at odds -- suddenly agreeing that sprawl needs to be corralled.The coalition has taken shape in Fresno, America's No. 1 farm county ($3.3 billion in yearly farm sales). It's called the Growth Alternatives Alliance; its recent report is called "A Landscape of Choice."The message: Unplanned expansion is a deadly threat to the world's most productive agricultural region.

WASHINGTON -- In a major coup for Chesapeake Bay conservation efforts, DuPont Co. announced yesterday that it has forever spared from development its 3,300-acre Chesapeake Farms in Kent County.By donating its rights to develop the sprawling waterfront property to two national conservation groups, the company agreed to the single largest conservation easement ever granted in Maryland.The estate, which is on Route 20 about 10 miles southwest of Chestertown, has long been considered an environmental jewel.

Few know the ups and downs of suburban growth like Raymond S. Wacks. As Howard County's budget chief for 20 years, he has watched the development boom of the 1980s swell county coffers -- and then drive Howard deep into debt."

NEWLIN TOWNSHIP, N.C. - About 20 miles west of Chapel Hill (where old oaks and poplars have been cut down for a parking lot) and a few miles south of Interstate 85 (where commuters zoom to Raleigh or Greensboro) is an endangered land of tall corn and lush pastures with cows and longhorn cattle.Quakers came here 200 years ago, when they ran out of land near Philadelphia, and their descendants still farm along roads that bear ancestors' names.That was when the names of places still stood for something, like Snow Camp, a town where General Cornwallis spent the winter, and Silk Hope, where some fellow in the 1700s imported worms, hoping they would make silk from all his mulberry trees.

NEWLIN TOWNSHIP, N.C. - About 20 miles west of Chapel Hill (where old oaks and poplars have been cut down for a parking lot) and a few miles south of Interstate 85 (where commuters zoom to Raleigh or Greensboro) is an endangered land of tall corn and lush pastures with cows and longhorn cattle.Quakers came here 200 years ago, when they ran out of land near Philadelphia, and their descendants still farm along roads that bear ancestors' names.That was when the names of places still stood for something, like Snow Camp, a town where General Cornwallis spent the winter, and Silk Hope, where some fellow in the 1700s imported worms, hoping they would make silk from all his mulberry trees.

Margaret McGrath Rockefeller,80, a prominent conservationist and wife of philanthropist David Rockefeller, died Tuesday in New York after complications from heart surgery.In 1970, she founded the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which has since conserved more than 66,000 acres in the state. She also was a founding member of the American Farmland Trust and was a trustee of the New York Philharmonic.Carl Edward Stegmaier Jr.,75, whose lifetime study of insects won him worldwide professional acclaim, died Monday of cancer in Tallahassee, Fla. As an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he published 38 papers on fruit flies, weevils and mites, and on the eradication of ragweed throughout Russia.